


Nathalie Aveccoeur

by phoenixwriting



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Age Difference, Bisexual Nathalie, Character Study, F/F, Light Angst, Marinette's Sister, Nathalie Sancoeur Does Not Get Paid Enough, Nathalie Sancoeur-centric, Unresolved Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:27:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25650586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenixwriting/pseuds/phoenixwriting
Summary: Nathalie Sancoeur is actually Nathalie AveccoeurA one-shot that shows Nathalie has a heart.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Nathalie Sancoeur, Nathalie Sancoeur & Original Character(s), Nathalie Sancoeur/Original Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25





	Nathalie Aveccoeur

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my second fic!
> 
> I actually wanted to make the young designer a grown-up Marinette but it felt weird because of the age gap in canon. So think of her as Mari's big sister or something.
> 
> And did anyone ever think Nathalie was straight? Nah.

  
His brooch lit up. Gabriel turned away from the screen and went towards the painting of his comatose wife. 

“Sir, you have an appointment with the Chanel designer in an hour.” Nathalie's voice came from her desk as she knew exactly what he was going to do.

“I can't let this powerful emotion be unused. If I won't make it back in time, tell her I'm detained.”

With these words, he descended through the floor.

Nathalie shook her head. She had agreed to help him with his “hobby”, cover for him, even taking action herself. But she hadn't agreed to THAT.

-

Just on time, the doorbell rang and Nathalie opened the intercom. 

It revealed a girl, well she must have been a young woman, smiling at the camera.   
Nathalie sighed and turned off her computer before opening the front gates of the mansion.

“Good day, Miss”, Nathalie welcomed the woman on top of the stairs. “Please follow me.”

They entered the atelier and Nathalie gestured towards the couch.

“Mr. Agreste will be here any minute. A previous meeting is taking longer than expected,” she resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

“Oh, no problem. I'm honored just to finally meet him.” She looked around the large room, the designs on the wall catching her attention.

“Can I get you anything? Water, Coffee?”

“A black coffee would be nice. Thank you,” the girl smiled. She was clearly nervous but tried to cover it.

Nathalie nodded and made her way to the kitchen. She prepared a coffee for the young designer and on that occasion one for herself, too. Maybe she will reduce her coffee intake one day, but it's hard if you work for a fashion mogul/super villain, have a magical illness, and take care of a 15-year-old. 

As she leaned against the counter and took out her phone, she dialed her boss' number.

“This is Gabriel Agreste's voicemail. To leave a message, please call my secretary.” _I AM your secretary_.

As she tried for his magic cane, he answered “What is it, Nathalie?”

“The Chanel designer is waiting for you in your office. I suggest taking another way in, sir,” she said with a slight tone of annoyance.

He hummed and turned his attention to the telepathic connection with the current Akuma, when Nathalie ended the call. _I need a raise_.

She took a sip of her coffee before making her way back to the office. 

  
The girl was staring at the empty table when Nathalie came in.

“Thank you,” she whispered as she was handed her coffee.

“I'll be upstairs in the office until Mr. Agreste is back.” _Keeping clients company while my boss is terrorizing the city isn't part of my contract_. 

She was about to head for the door when the girl spoke up.

“Can I ask you something, Miss Sancoeur?”

“Nathalie, please.” She turned to face her. 

She nodded. “You have seen my designs, right? Are they good enough?” The girl looked at her with expecting Bambi eyes. _I have emails to respond to_.

Nathalie sighed and went to sit next to the designer.

“Your work is exceptional, otherwise Mr. Agreste wouldn't have invited you to meet him personally.” 

“I know, it's just my bosses rely on me so much. I am the great-great-granddaughter of Coco Chanel, and that's all they see. I grew up in the fashion industry, so it's only natural to do it for a living. But hell, I'm 24 and I don't even know if this is what I want or just what I'm expected to.”

Nathalie just stared at the young woman who was so desperate she poured her heart out to a complete stranger. But she felt that. 

And still, she didn't know what to tell the girl. Young woman.

“Take all the time you need to figure out what you want in life. If you like to work in fashion, do it, if you want to try something else, don't let your heritage stop you. It's okay not to have the answer yet.   
Look, I'm about ten years older than you and I still don't know if this is the life I want or if I simply adjusted to it. Don't break yourself trying to meet their ideas of who you should be and what you should do. It's your life, after all.”

Did Nathalie Sancoeur just open her heart and gave life advice to a person she has no personal interest in?

The woman smiled warmly at Nathalie and laid her head on the assistant's shoulder. 

For a second, Nathalie went still. She wasn't used to such physical people. Gabriel occasionally went for body contact and Adrien liked hugs but that was it. Sometimes she longed for somebody's warmth near. 

She took the designers' hand in her own. “I mean it. Live your goddamn life the way you want.”

The woman giggled. “Thank you, Nathalie. What do you wish for?”

 _To see Gabriel and Adrien happy again_. “I don't know, actually. I sometimes wonder if this is it.” 

“I see. I can only speak from the articles I've read about Mr. Agreste, the company, and you but it seems you have a great life. You're the personal assistant to the Gabriel Agreste which makes you the most powerful woman in Paris. Do you know how many girls dream of becoming like you one day? You're an icon in the industry. The woman behind the curtains of the “Gabriel” brand.” _And don't forget all the perks_.

“It's just work. And to be honest, I should've never taken this job. It's too much sometimes.” Still, Nathalie didn't let go of the other woman's hand. She hadn't opened herself like this in a long time. Even if she did just tell a fraction of what's going on, it felt like almost too much.   
Her job was literally her only purpose in life. She had built walls of professionalism over the years of working for the Agrestes and not once had them torn down in front of anyone. 

Of course, she had breakdowns, her mental health was a mess, and she sometimes felt like throwing it all away and start over, but she had to be there for their blonde disasters. Without her they would go down, they needed her. It felt good to be needed. So she wouldn't let them see her vulnerability. 

But this girl next to her, a woman she had never met and would most likely work with only on a few occasions, made her let down her guard, and even if she obviously couldn't tell her everything, it still helped. Nathalie wasn't looking for a friend or whatever; she didn't have time for those things.   
Working a 60+ hour week leaves you glad if you get 5 hours of sleep. 

“Nathalie?”

It took her a moment to realize the woman was staring at her. “What?”

“I just asked you something, but it seemed like you were spaced out.” The woman was a little worried. 

“Oh, I'm sorry.” Only then she noticed how slumped she was, absentmindedly caressing the woman's hand with her thumb. She sat up straight, taking her hand back and let it rest in her lap. “I was just thinking. May you repeat the question?”

The woman turned around and sat cross-legged on the couch to get a better view of Nathalie. 

“If there was one thing, you could do right now to change your life, what would it be?” _Get Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous_. “It doesn't have to be a big thing, just a small change in everyday life. For example, I started to meditate and remind myself daily of three things I'm grateful for.” 

“Well, I think I should try to let people in,” Nathalie sighed. She had always been reclusive, but it was time to allow some feelings. Maybe Gabriel would sense how she felt about him, if she didn't hide every emotion deep down. She sometimes wondered if he could feel her crying in the middle of the night waking up from nightmares.

She needed to let people know. 

“Thank you for comforting me. I appreciate it.” Nathalie raised her eyebrows and put on a gentle smile while she looked into the woman's eyes.

“I have to thank you for distracting me from my anxiety. It really helped to talk to you.” 

Just as the woman intertwined Nathalie's hand that rested on her thigh with her own, the front door opened.

“Nathalie, I'm home!” Adrien exclaimed. 

Nathalie jumped to her feet when the boy entered the atelier. “I got an invitation to a parent-teacher conference, and I figured you would go instead of Father.”

There was a hint of disappointment in his voice whenever he spoke about all those things his father had missed. Fencing tournaments, photoshoots, and even dinner. When did Gabriel finally learn while trying to make his family whole again, he needed to make sure it won't fall apart completely until then? 

Nathalie took the sheet of paper from him and placed it on her desk. “I'll inform him.”

She threw a short look to the woman still sitting on the couch, now more elegantly. She smiled at her encouragingly.

 _Let people know what you feel_.

“Adrien, wait.” Adrien stopped in his tracks as he was about to leave. 

Nathalie exhaled and bent down, catching him in a tight hug. He was startled at first but then she felt his hands on her back. 

“I love you, Adrien. No matter what happens, I will always love you. Please never forget that,” she barely whispered. 

“I love you, too. You're the best family I have left. Thank you for everything.”

Before Nathalie would have started crying, she let go of her boy and smiled. He returned the favor. Then he ran off to practice the piano. 

“You did great!” the woman cheered. For a moment Nathalie had completely forgotten her presence. “Didn't that feel good?”

She nodded. It did. It really did. At this point, she had basically adopted that golden-haired ray of sunshine as her own, she cared for him deeply, but she rarely showed affection towards him. Sure, it was her job to be professional towards her boss' child, but he desperately needed some love.   
And the line of professionalism was crossed way before.  
She could only imagine how lonely Adrien must've felt with not only the loss of his mother but also his father. He needed her, and she would give him everything she could. 

Nathalie made her way to sit with the designer again. Something about her was attracting Nathalie to be close to her, enjoy her presence. She didn't understand why she was so nervous about the meeting with Gabriel. That woman would wrap Gabriel around her little finger just the way she did with Nathalie.  
Wait, was that her plan from the beginning?

Right on cue, Gabriel entered the office. Thank God, Nathalie was still far enough away from the woman to avoid unwanted questions. 

The look on his face after a failed Akuma was always the same, but finding an alternative entrance instead of being able to ride the elevator comfortably back into the office added another unwelcoming layer to his features.   
Still, it serves him right.

He introduced himself to the Chanel designer and went to sit opposite her with Nathalie who started taking notes on her tablet, everything that happened before seemed to be non-existent. 

They talked about her designs, a potential cooperation, and other business-related topics. She was smooth, all signs of stress had disappeared, and a professional industry veteran explained her inspiration. Nathalie wondered if some part of her behavior was her merit.

-

  
The meeting ended with a deal for an upcoming fashion line called “Gabriel Chanel”, an anecdote about Gabriel actually being named after Gabrielle Coco Chanel.   
The young woman would be Chanel's head designer. 

“Thank you, Mr. Agreste. It's been a pleasure.” She shook his hand contently.

She moved over to the assistant who stood slightly behind her boss.

“Nathalie.” Her hand lingered in Nathalie's for an instant longer, but not too long for Gabriel to recognize. 

She made her way out of the door and down the front stairs. The sun was so shining brightly that the fawn ground appeared almost white. 

“My family, my new job, Nathalie.”

**Author's Note:**

> Tell me your opinion, critics, whatever  
> Thank you for reading <3


End file.
